Top Candidates to Replace Scott Frost as Oregon's Offensive Coordinator

One of the nation's highest-flying offenses is about to get a new leader as the Oregon Ducks begin the process to replace Scott Frost as their offensive coordinator.

Frost, who took over the job after Mark Helfrich was promoted to head coach in 2013, was named the new head coach at UCF on Tuesday morning. 

As the Oregon assistant gets ready to make his mark in the Sunshine State with a high-powered offense, his former employer now has to find someone to take the reins of an all-out attack. Oregon is closing in on its sixth straight year of Top 10 finishes in yards per game.

Who could Oregon look to as its new offensive coordinator? Here are a few early names to watch as candidates—from a runaway in-house favorite to a couple of outsiders that lead their own uptempo offenses.

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Oregon WRs Coach Matt Lubick

Within minutes of the reports surfacing that UCF had hired Frost to be its head coach, current Oregon wide receivers coach Matt Lubick emerged as the popular front-runner to replace him on Twitter.

Bleacher Report's Bryan Fischer and SB Nation's Dan Rubenstein both mentioned Lubick as an easy call for Oregon's next offensive coordinator:

"

Could see Oregon promoting from within for new OC, namely WR coach Matt Lubick, who seems well regarded. Frost a former UO WR coach himself.

— Dan Rubenstein (@DanRubenstein) December 1, 2015"

Lubick is obviously well-regarded as an assistant coach, and he brings an intriguing resume as the Oregon wide receiver coach and passing game coordinator.

Before coming to Oregon ahead of the 2013 season, Lubick served as an assistant coach at Arizona State, Oregon State and Duke.

In 2012, Lubick was named the national Wide Receivers Coach of the Year by FootballScoop after leading a national-best three different receivers to more than 60 receptions.

At Oregon, he coached a fantastic wide receiving corps that helped set school records alongside Heisman-winning quarterback Marcus Mariota in 2014. This season, with a new starter in Vernon Adams Jr. at quarterback, Oregon is ranked eighth nationally in passing yards per attempt.

A top-notch position coach and a great recruiter, Lubick seems like the easy call here for Helfrich. The Ducks might want to go ahead and promote him to avoid losing him to Frost's new staff at UCF.

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Eastern Washington OC Zak Hill

If Helfrich decides to infuse some new blood into the coaching staff, he could look to the former play-caller for his current star quarterback.

Eastern Washington offensive coordinator Zak Hill has led some of the most successful offenses at the FCS level in the past decade, and he has clear regional ties to the area.

Before becoming an assistant at EWU, Hill spent a few seasons as a high school coach in Hillsboro, Oregon.

Under Hill's leadership, Eastern Washington has produced several record-breaking quarterbacks, including Adams, Bo Levi Mitchell and Matt Nichols.

This season, Eastern Washington leads the FCS in passing offense with 353 yards per game and an incredible 8.41 yards per attempt. The Eagles have thrown for three times as many touchdowns as they have interceptions.

Also, in its season opener against Adams and the Ducks, Eastern Washington threw for 438 passing yards and scored 42 points.

If Oregon wanted to bolster its passing attack and grab a play-caller with a proven track record of producing fantastic stats through the air, Hill would be an excellent selection.

Hill knows the area, and he knows big-play offense.

Montana State OC Tim Cramsey

Before Helfrich and Frost, Oregon plucked an offensive coordinator from the FCS level. That hire was none other than Chip Kelly, the former New Hampshire assistant who rose the ranks to Oregon head coach. Now, Kelly coaches in the NFL.

Tim Cramsey comes from the same coaching tree as Kelly, serving as his fullbacks/tight ends coach and his running backs coach in the early 2000s. Cramsey became the New Hampshire offensive coordinator in 2008—one year after Kelly left for the same position at Oregon.

After one season at FIU, Cramsey returned to the FCS level at Montana State—where he has engineered explosive Top 10 offenses for three straight seasons. This year, the Bobcats ranked third in the FCS in total offense by averaging 519.8 yards per game.

The only negative to Cramsey becoming the next offensive coordinator at Oregon is that he could be in line for a head coaching job in the near future.

According to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Cramsey recently interviewed for the head coaching vacancy at Montana State—which fired head coach Rob Ash late last month. The Bobcats went 5-6 on the season, but it wasn't due to a lack of scoring.

"I think I’m a good football coach," Cramsey told the paper. "We love Bozeman. It’s a great place, a great program, Bobcat Nation is awesome, all that type of stuff. If given that opportunity, like I said, I’d put my best foot forward. If not, I’ve got to find an income for (sons) Brock and Bryce."

If he's available, Cramsey has ties to the Oregon offensive system as a Kelly disciple, and the Ducks would get someone with experience calling plays instead of breaking in a first-time offensive coordinator.

Justin Ferguson is a college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.